Optical add-drop nodes such as optical add-drop multiplexers (OADMs) form a key functional element in dense wavelength-division multiplexed (DWDM) optical fiber networks. Optical amplifiers such as erbium doped fiber amplifiers, semi-conductor optical amplifiers, Raman amplifiers and the like are commonly deployed within such networks to overcome the attenuation of transmission fibers between nodes or the attenuation of components within network elements. The optical amplifiers typically operate in a saturated regime where, the total output power depends sub-linearly on the number of input channels or is essentially constant. If the number of input channels (i.e., wavelengths) passing through such an amplifier is suddenly reduced, the optical power of the remaining channels will be increased, potentially to the level that degrades optical quality (e.g., measured by a bit error rate) of these remaining channels. For example, in the case of an OADM node receiving a plurality of optical channels and adding a single channel, a fiber-cut upstream of the OADM node (or disconnected OADM input) will cause the sudden elimination of optical energy associated with the received ‘through’ channels, while the remaining ‘add’ channel will receive most of the total optical amplifier power that had previously been distributed among all the channels exiting the OADM. The sudden power change will have detrimental immediate effects not only on the added channel, but also on the stability of all the network elements downstream from the fiber cut. The optical power of the surviving channels can, in principle, be adjusted back to the desired value by re-adjusting the pump conditions of all optical amplifiers. However, in a large network with many WDM channels it is a very significant challenge to accomplish this in a time period sufficiently short to avoid noticeable effects on the network operation.